Every time someone hops onto a superyacht, one thing is a given, good times. Unless that person is Leonardo DiCaprio. The Hollywood A-lister, who regularly hops aboard superyachts especially around New Year’s, does so with the certainty of plenty of backlash. The internet is not completely at fault either, because The Revenant star is an enthusiastic climate advocate who funnels millions into causes for the betterment of the environment. Of course, he seems to forget that superyachts like Vava II, priced at around $250 million and reportedly chartered year after year, are some of the biggest contributors to ruining the very same climate. His reputation as an eco-activist regularly clashes with his relentless love for luxury vessels. It is a price he seems more than willing to pay, and he did so again on a very public platform at the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards on Sunday.
Just a day earlier, DiCaprio, had already missed the Palm Springs International Film Festival, where he was supposed to receive the Desert Palm Achievement Award for his performance. As the internet buzzed with DiCaprio and girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti yacht-hopping around the holidays and New Year’s, even host Chelsea Handler took a bite of the hoopla in her opening monologue. The American comedian and actress joked that Leo almost missed the ceremony, owing to travel restrictions after U.S. airstrikes on Venezuela, and was “stranded” on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s $500 million megayacht Koru. In all honesty, no man could find a better vessel to be stranded on than the 416 foot Oceanco mammoth that ranks first among the world’s largest sailing yachts.
Leonardo DiCaprio and his girlfriend, Vittoria Ceretti, were seen soaking up the sun with Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos on a $250 million superyacht off the coast of St. Barts ahead of the New Year. 🌞 📸: BACKGRID pic.twitter.com/mqwzo8zVM8
— Page Six (@PageSix) January 1, 2026
Yes, DiCaprio did miss Palm Springs the night before, and it can be safely conjectured that he would have called it a blessing in disguise, because Koru is a party in itself and belongs to a tech tycoon worth around $251 billion. Chelsea Handler truly hit the humor nerve mocking DiCaprio’s non-existent St. Barts predicament when she said that he “almost did not make it tonight because he was trapped on a boat in St. Barts,” calling it like Titanic but worse “because Jeff Bezos was there,” reported Variety.
Chelsea Handler roasts Leonardo DiCaprio for being stuck on a boat in St. Barts: “It was just like the ‘Titanic’ but worse because Jeff Bezos was there.” #CriticsChoiceAwards pic.twitter.com/wjjAzogkcw
— Variety (@Variety) January 5, 2026
The room erupted in peals of laughter, as did an awkward DiCaprio, who has perhaps become accustomed to jabs at his undying infatuation with superyachts. A climate activist stuck on a billionaire’s yacht during a war for oil narrative turned out to be just the plotline needed to begin the show with a bang. As for the award, the 51 year old superstar lost his Critics Choice Best Actor category to Timothée Chalamet, although his film still walked away with top honors, a neat reminder that the work is taken more seriously than the man’s holidays. Still, it was DiCaprio who got the extra time aboard the $500 million megayacht Koru, a prize in itself if you ask me.
St. Barts was, in fact, the most elite party address in the world, attended by tech giants and celebrities alike. DiCaprio also rubbed shoulders with Tom Brady aboard his ship. Other megayachts orbiting St. Barts were Kaos, Moonrise, Rising Sun, Kismet and more.
